Crop to Cup Series - Meet Brooke & Sam from Alleyway

Meet Brooke & Sam, the owners of Alleyway and General Service in Wanaka. We caught up about their space, and how community and sustainability play a role in a busy tourist town.

 

Hi Brooke & Sam! Can you tell us who you are and what you do?

Hello! We are co-owners (along with a couple of our friends) of Alleyway Hot Coffee & Sandwiches.
We live in Wanaka and spend our days in the co-working space attached to Alleyway, we both work for ourselves which means you’ll often find us away from our desks and at the coffee machine.

 

What’s the why behind Alleyway? And how did it come to be?

General Service Co Working Space had been running in the Wanaka CBD for year and when the opportunity came up to do our own coffee and food it just made sense. Wanaka has no shortage of amazing places to get food from, but all we really wanted for lunch was a humble sandwich and a seat to hang out with our mates.

 

Alleyway & General Service has a wonderful atmosphere and community spirit – how do you achieve this?

We’re lucky to be located right in the centre of town, which means we have some seriously die-hard locals.
As a team of people who all have jobs outside of the cafe, it was important for us to create somewhere nice to be, somewhere we wanted to hang out.
We run a gold coin coffee morning every Friday between 7-8am which is focused around people taking the time before work to sit down and have a coffee with there friends - like the pub on a Friday night, just way more wholesome.
Connection is so much more important to us than making a few extra bucks.

 

As a business owner, how do you approach sustainability day-to-day?

Sustainability in hospo can be really tricky! Having the co-working space is really helpful for making sure no food is wasted at the end of the day, a shared afternoon tea instead.
Wanaka doesn’t pick up tetra packs at curb-side collection but the legends at Wastebusters recycle them, so one of our staff bikes over and drops them off weekly!

 

Whats the best advice you've received?

Our good friend & co-owner Chris told us about a podcast he listened to - about how to remember your life. When we do the same routines every day (same work, same meals, same commute), our memory compresses those experiences, but when we deliberately do something new - like taking a different bike route to work our brain pays more attention, forming stronger, more vivid memories.

 

Favourite oat drink?

LBO - Long black with a good splash of Otis, yum!